


Sticks and Stones

by Nerdgirl001



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Fluff, Haunted House, Hospital, Mulder making scully proud, my boy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-21 02:14:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9527303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdgirl001/pseuds/Nerdgirl001
Summary: Scully is in the hospital after a case gone wrong, Mulder is being cute and worried. Skinner is on point as usual.





	

She had had one hell of a fall. And he wasn't just saying that out of concern. 

Mulder sat at the side of Scully's hospital bed unmoving. His breaths were shallow and silent as he listened intently to the rhythm of her heart beat. The steady beat of life still enveloping her. 

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and thought back to the doctor's words. Twenty. She has twenty broken bones. He couldn't believe that he had no part in her fall out the window of the haunted house as everyone said. He was the one who took them there and she fought him the entire way. He was the one who put her into that situation. He remembered watching her fall, hopeless to catch her as the ghost who flung her out the window also had Mulder by the neck. He had fired all the rounds in his gun into that thing, but only when Scully hit the ground did it disappear. He'd have to figure that one out later. Right now, this was more important.  
He examined the casts she was covered in. He didn't know how she'd broken so many bones and only had three casts.

She'd know. She could probably count them out for him explaining the uses and medical names of each bone as she went. He sighed lightly, still feeling as though he would hurt her with any disturbance. 

He looked at her right hand which appeared to be outstretched to him, it was perfectly unscathed. He got over his fear and carefully took her hand into his. He began running his finger up and down the bones there. 

Phalanges  
Meta-carpal  
Carpal.

That was three right there. Well, five plus however many meta-carpals and carpals there were. His finger reached her wrist and he continued.

Radius  
Ulna  
Humorous. 

He paused, and placed his finger where they connected.

Funny bone.

She'd kill him for that one. He allowed a small chuckle to himself and continued.

Shoulder blade  
Collar bone  
And the sternum which branched off to the ribs.

That was eleven right there not even counting the multiplicity of types of bones. Ten, he corrected himself, fairly sure that the funny bone didn't really exist. 

The ribs reach around to the spine.  
The spine, up to the head- cranium,  
and down to the tail bone.  
Hip bone  
Femur  
The one between the femur and feet  
Tarsals  
Meta-tarsals  
And finally, more phalanges. 

Nineteen. He almost made it.  
Twenty different bones. He examined the casts again. One leg- probably just the femur or the other one broken, her abdomen was wrapped as well- he'd guess three ribs, and finally, her left hand. He gave up trying to estimate the damage done to her, sighed, and contented himself to rubbing small circles around her knuckles and lines between her fingers as he waited for her to wake up.

~~~

Scully began to shift slightly as she came to.

"Muller?" she asked in a groggy muffled voice as she tried to sit up

"Lay back down." Mulder told her, his voice betraying more emotion than he had wanted. He gently applied pressure against her right shoulder to keep her from hurting herself. 

"Wha happened?" her eyes were opened now and she recognized that she was in a hospital.

"Do you remember the house? The ghosts?" his tone was even and loving. There was no other way to put it.

Scully shook her head and then winced.

"Long story short. You were thrown from a third story window. You're lucky you didn't break your neck" his voice cracked as he spoke, but he stopped caring about hiding these things from her. She knew how her getting injured affected him. Yet that never seemed to stop her.

"It's not your fault."

He laughed, "I thought you said you didn't remember." 

She gave him a small smile, "I don't. But you've got that I-can't-believe-I-let-this-happen-to-you face. And I know that whatever happened, whatever situation lead to this, I followed you willingly. And don't give me that 'you wouldn't have been there if not for me' crap."

Mulder smiled. She was going to be okay. "I don't do that." he said matter-o-factly egging her on.

"Yes you do Mulder. Every time I'm in the hospital." she said, her eyes closing again as she spoke.

"Which by the way, happens way too often. I've been talking to Skinner and we both agree, you need counseling." he watched as her eyes flew open and she nearly lunged at him.

"Shut up!" she said, her voice full of fire, "if one of us needs counselling it's you!" 

He smiled and scoffed, trying to act offended but knowing that it was true, and that he was simply happy that she was talking to him. 

Skinner of course, being the master of timing, walked into the room saying "If you don't stop this I'll send you to couples counselling in the FBI break room."

"We have a break room?" they both replied in synchrony. Then smiled at each other.

"Yeah, yeah. You're both hilarious." he approached Scully's left side and placed a hand gently on her shoulder, 

"How are you doing?"

She gave a small nod, "fine sir, I'll be back on my feet in no time." 

He and Mulder both laughed incredulously. "You'll be taking some time off after this little endeavor. Both of you." he added as Mulder was sticking his tongue out in Scully's direction.

"What?!" Mulder cried, taken aback by this twist of events. Now it was Scully's turn to stick her tongue out. She almost didn't in order to take the high ground, but when Skinner turned his back for a second to check the clock she couldn't help herself. 

"As of-" Skinner paused for the second hand to reach zero, "now. You both are on probation from the X-files." he held up a hand as both of them began to argue, "until such a time as you are recovered-" he looked to Scully accusingly, "and fully reported and explained to the board of directors." for that part he turned to Mulder, an eyebrow raised.

Mulder sighed, "I'll prepare the report and usual 'you can believe what you must but the truth is out there' speech. I'll add some flare this time. It's getting a little old. Maybe I'll end it with yelling 'Fight the Future' and then flip the table and storm out. What do you think?"  
Scully was laughing helplessly (damn those pain killers) and Skinner rubbed his forehead.

"I think while you're at it you're going to want to fire up the old resume again as well." 

Mulder pretended to consider it for a moment before allowing a smile to bleed through. 

Scully got control over herself again and the giggles ebbed away. 

The room was silent for a beat before Skinner, smiling lightly, excused himself and left the room.

Mulder realized that he still had Scully's hand in his, but she didn't seem to mind. His knee began bouncing nervously and his hand held hers a little too tightly.

Scully tightened her grip in response and looked into his eyes, "I'm going to be alright." 

He took a breath and nodded, forcing his knee to stop shaking. "Hey Scully?" he asked suddenly.

Her eyes were closed, but she still answered him, "Yes Mulder?"

"Can you tell me what bones you broke?" he realized this was a strange request, but he couldn't help himself.

Scully's eyes opened again and she eyed him for a moment looking a bit surprised before nodding, "Of course, but most of them are just fractures. Can I see my chart?" he handed it to her and she cleared her throat and began the list of twenty items, she indicated where each one was and explained what that meant as far as recovery. He listened to her intently and made mental notes of where she would be sore and for how long. He would remember it all and protect her until she recovered.


End file.
